As a stylist, you sometimes have discussions with clients as to why your food   

choices matter.  People come to you for advice on how to grow their hair, care for their scalp etc., but they expect everything to change overnight.  Women are still waiting for that pill that reduces us to our ideal body weight in one go too!

Case in point:  since the popularity of gluing on wigs, there is a new generation of women without hairlines. 

After a while, they clue in that their hairline is not coming back.  The need to get it back goes to the top of the “must do” list in case they might have to get married  or go on vacation and it’s hard to wear a wig for the rest of your life.  

After extensive research on social media, one with pins in particular, dreads emerge as a possible solution.  We make the dreads, but they expect it to look like those influencers who have had their dreads for say five years..  If the hair is broken or missing in places, this cannot happen.  Sometimes going back to protective hairstyles such as dreads will help, but unfortunately, it is sometimes too far gone for the hairline to return.

In my experience, many people wearing wigs do not normally care for their natural hair very regularly.  Their hair will be broken, dry and uneven because they slap the wig on with no care for how their hair is doing.  Expecting your new dreads to look like your favourite social media influencers when you have paid zero attention to your hair in years, is asking for the impossible.   Dreadlock extensions are an option.  This can work but only if you have the hair to hold it. 

• If a hair product could fix your hair overnight, you probably could not afford it.  It would be so expensive you would need to make mortgage payments.  Therefore, do not stock up thousands of products under your sink without figuring out why your food choices matter.
• Hair needs to be redone on a regular basis.  Six months is unacceptable. A monthly check at least.
• Fruits and vegetables are essential to your hair growth.  Green leafy vegetables like kale, broccoli, collard greens should be in your food intake at least once a week. A salad of lettuce and tomato only is not enough.
• Popular hair trends e.g. gluing wigs, ankle-length braids etc, are important to your social life but if it affects how much hair you have, change it.  
• Your health is very important.  Many of the women who have severe breakage have low iron and are most of the time anemic.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people think products alone will fix their hair problems.  It can help but at the end,  it is using them along with having a proper diet that proves why your food choices matter.

By Paula Barker, Silkie Locks Hair Design